I've been driving my car for 4 days now and I love the NAV screen. I find that I switch between the consumption screen and the NAV mostly for normal use. I've used the guidance twice so far; once while driving home from the dealer (about 80 miles) and once while coming to work on Monday just to see if it would tell me to take the way I normally go.

I would say that it’s really a personal preference but for me I “had” to have the NAV screen for the simple fact that I’m a computer nerd at heart. I already had a $900 Street Pilot GPS that I was using in my old car but it’s much better IMO having it all integrated. Yesterday I synched my Blackberry via Bluetooth during lunch and I was making and receiving calls via the NAV screen on the ride home just for fun. If you’re into gadgets you gotta do it.

If you are thinking about NAV or no NAV only without thinking about getting leather seats and a sunroof then you may have trouble finding a vehicle unless you can get a dealer to add NAV afterwards as an option by itself. ALL of the TCH Hybrids that I’ve seen so far have been in only two flavors; “Loaded” with everything including NAV (which I held out for) or “Base” which has cloth and no NAV or Sunroof. Just something to keep in mind.

Good Luck…